LOS ANGELES — “I am a celebrity here on Earth, but what I want to be is a celebrity in the eyes of God, in the heavens,” Hanan Turk says to an audience eager to hear why the superstar donned hijab and became active in Islamic charity work.

At 38 years old, Turk’s fan base consists of millions of television and movie fans from North Africa to the Gulf peninsula.

Turk started her career as a ballerina at the Cairo Ballet Institute in Egypt, and soon after became an actress. In 1991, she acted in her fist movie, “Raghba Motawahesha.” Her next role came in the TV series “Soqoot fi Be’r Al-Saba’.” Among her other TV roles were “Al-Sabr Fel Malahat”, “Al-Mal We Al-Banoun” and “Lan A’esh Fe Gelbab Aby.”

On the silver screen. she acted in “Dehk We Le’b We Gad We Hob”, “Al-Mohager” and “Haramiyyah fi Tayland” among many others.

Turk also worked alongside world famous director Youssef Chahine on numerous occasions, and in 2007, she was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Today, however, she is admired by a whole new group of people worldwide.

Since 2007, Turk has been an ambassador for the international charity organization, Islamic Relief.

Turk has traveled to Sudan, Iraq and the United States, doing celebrity charity work and da’wah for the organization.

A mother of three, Youssef, Adam and Mohamed, Turk hopes to be a role model for all practicing Muslims and hopes her celebrity stature will help the impoverished and needy worldwide.

In 2006, she chose to wear hijab, joining a group of Egyptian actresses who have taken the same decision, such as Hala Shiha and Abla Kamel.

However Turk’s religious transformation did not occur overnight; she spent almost a decade researching and investigating the true meaning of Islam and how to correctly implement it in all aspects of her life.

Here is what she had to say about this important turning point in her life. The interview was conducted in Arabic, and all questions and answers were translated.

What do you consider to be the religious turning point in your life?

An actor very close to a lot of people’s hearts and who I knew personally died suddenly. After that, I truly understood the meaning of death.  After he died, I began to ask: Why? Why was I brought to this life? What are my duties? We, in Egypt, refer to God in much of our casual talk. We say things like “in sha’ Allah” - God willing, or “Rabina Yisahil” - God make it easy. Well, I thought, this God, Who we are always referring to, what does He want from us, why did He create us?

Describe your journey to learning about Islam?

I had a million questions. And I thought the only way to answer them would be to study it thoroughly. My mind has to understand and make rational decisions, it can’t be just my heart deciding for me. So I started learning Shariah - Islamic Law.  I learned the ABC’s, how to pray, how to do wudu (ablution), what the Prophet Mohamed (SAW) did during his life, things that were very basic.

I came across things I really didn’t want to do, like hijab, for example. I kept questioning it and kept asking myself why would God want us suffocated like that? Is hair really the only thing that seduces people? I kept asking friends and religious leaders many, many questions about hijab. I was very against hijab for many years. I kept researching and studying for a total of seven years.

During my research, it hit me. When I go buy a new TV or stereo, before I even plug it in, I always have to read the manual. I have to, or else I risk ruining my brand new expensive product. Humans are always especially conscious with things that are expensive. Well, when God created us, He also gave us a manual, the Qur’an. I now refer to the Qur’an for any questions I have about how life works.

When you revolve your life around God, your brain’s wiring changes. Everything else in your mind gets erased. You start liking things you didn’t used to like, like prayer and fasting and giving to charity.

What inspired your decision to wear the hijab?

After about four years of research, I decided to wear it. I went to a sheikh I know and said straight up, “Listen, I’ve reached my limit. I don’t want to do anything sinful, and I feel this is the only thing standing in my way from becoming close to God.” I asked, “Does not wearing hijab keep you from going to heaven, or does wearing it simply mean I’m going to be in a better level in heaven? If not wearing it means I’m going to hell, then I won’t risk that.”

He told me everything that is fard – obligatory - keeps you from hell, and everything that is sunnah – extra - puts you in different levels of heaven. So I asked him what category hijab fell under. He said there are five pillars of Islam and six pillars of faith. But I said Hijab is in neither.

So he said but within the six pillars of faith is to believe in the books and the Prophets right? I said yes. Well in the Quran there is a verse describing Hijab. But I said it does not say cover your heads. So he said, OK, let’s go back to the original Arabic of the text. After taking each word and describing the meaning to me and explaining the history of the text, I was amazed. And unless you talk to me in logic, I wont do it.  I wanted to think about it for a while before taking the decision, but he said something very important to me before leaving that meeting. He said because after this meeting you are now aware that it is obligatory, until you wear it you are living in sin, as opposed to before when you doubted the rule.

After this meeting I went to Hajj and Umrah about six months later, and after I returned I wore it. Those six months were a difficult time for me, I started punishing myself for not wearing it. I sold my BMW and got a much cheaper car, I stopped shopping, I felt I was very unbalanced. I reached a point wear I would pray to God and say Habiby - my love- make me strong.

I realized that Hijab is a uniform. When you go to apply your child in a school they give you all the specific requirements and the uniform is one of them. What if I said OK to everything else, and said no to the uniform?Then they will say sorry, but you cannot attend the school. It is the same for Islam.

Why did you choose Islamic Relief as your vehicle for charity work?

Three years ago, a very close friend of mine who works in Islamic Relief in the United Kingdom, came to me in my children’s magazine office and introduced me to the idea. He told me everything about the organization and asked me to be an ambassador.  I asked him things like how do you work? Where do you get your funds? How should I know that your goals will correspond with mine?

So I went to the office in the UK and I met with the leader Hani El Banna and saw the system inside and out. And now I work with them with my eyes closed. Their history and motives were very pure and because their intention was to work for God, they were successful.  Look now how big Islamic Relief is.

After working with them raising funds for different parts of the world, I wanted to go to the places we were raising funds for in order to know the people I was speaking about at events.  I want to go to Iraq next but they wont let me! ]

Will you be doing more acting in the future? After wearing Hijab, do you find it difficult to act?

I am acting right now in TV series. In short summary, I want to say that just because I wore Hijab, doesn’t mean that your life is over. In Egypt it is hard for women wearing Hijab to appear in the media, it is very very hard unlike what most people think. But I want people to know that I am still Hanan Turk and if I want to act in a series or make a movie I will.  And women should not be afraid to wear it because of the repercussions. But I have a greater responsibility now and I pick my movies carefully.